No Bravery
by Dreams Of Another Summer
Summary: EU. Legacy of the Force, one-shot. The events during Sacrifice, told from different angles.


**Title: **No Bravery

**Author: **Beautifully Tragic-Tragically Beautiful

**Rating: **M, due to the lyrics, and some (rather vague) references to violence.

**Author's Note: **Firstly, if you have not read the Legacy of the Force novel _Sacrifice_, please DO NOT READ FURTHER. Although this is lyrically styled piece, it will spoil the novel for you. Also, I am indebted to Unwinding Fantasy (/u/379187/) for reading over this fic and exposing it's grammatical errors- all situational and factional errors are mine. The lyrics are from "No Bravery" by James Blunt, and all the characters, places, events, etc are copyright of George Lucas, Lucasfilm, Lucasbooks, etc. Lastly, please review- I'm happy to hear whatever you think.

_There are children standing here,_

_Arms outstretched towards the sky._

_Tears drying on their face._

_He has been here._

The _Anakin Solo _courses through space while Jacen Solo reflects on his brother, the starship's namesake. What he died for. Moving through the Force, a presence comes to him. A strong, female presence. Lumiya, Lady of the Sith, his new mentor.

He had always been sceptical. Jacen questioned everything but his faith in himself. Everything around him was there merely to be manipulated for his own gain. Jedi should be selfless – but in times of war? When one's parents are traitors? When your own family doubt you?

He no longer believes in his family. He no longer believes in any family.

When the time comes, the time he senses is drawing closer, he knows he will have to close himself off.

The anguish pulsing through the Force would be too much for even the great Jacen Solo to bear…

_Brothers lie in shallow graves,_

_Fathers lost without a trace._

_A nation blind to their disgrace._

_Since he's been here._

On Mandalore, Boba Fett gazes at the patch of earth, the only sign that this is a mass grave. Mandalorian tradition, one that Fett does not wish to follow.

His granddaughter stands beside him, watching him. Fett sees so much familiar, yet so much mysterious, just like the galaxy itself.

A soft wind blows, causing the trees to sway. Turning from the spot, Fett pauses. Mandalore was coming back, coming into its own, yet what was ahead for it? Were they making the right move? Could they really try to predict what would happen in such a wide, ever-changing galaxy? The weight of his helmet seems to press on his head as the thoughts swirl. His armour presses around the wearying limbs. His breath comes and goes, eyes opening and closing. Watching all around him, he lowers his head.

It is coming. And come what may, he will be ready…

_And I see no bravery,_

_No bravery in your eyes anymore._

_Only sadness._

Leia stirs in her sleep, dreaming of her son, a son she no longer knows, a son she is separated by through distance, through alliances. Through war.

He sees her as a traitor, no longer the mother he adored, who he would cry out for when things went wrong, whose diplomatic advice he sought. The mother who helped him grow and find himself, who never questioned him.

Now she feels him through the Force, growing darker, growing distant. Gone is the Force-strong young boy who could bond with any living being, who would do anything for his family, who did all he could to try and save his little brother, who mentored his cousin through the hard years as a Jedi apprentice. Now he is falling, falling along with the final remnants of peace in the galaxy.

She moves again. Peace is all she's fought for and now it is unravelling, coming apart throughout the galaxy, throughout her family, throughout her very being…

_Houses burnt beyond repair._

_The smell of death is in the air._

_A woman weeping in despair says,_

_He has been here._

Coruscant proclaims all is well, peace is coming.

Corellia claims they are winning, the Confederation will prevail.

Worlds once united, divide. The Alliance grows weaker, the Confederation stronger. Politicians undecided, how to solve a problem that becomes more complicated with every ship movement, every military promotion, every assassination attempt. The Alliance loses as the Confederation gains.

Jaina is in the middle. A Corellian father, a mother whose adopted homeworld is Coruscant, she is an outcast, fighting for the government her mother once swore to uphold, to support. Now she can't contact her parents, her brother grows more distant, her uncle more worried, her aunt angrier.

Her friends, her allies, are dying. All her life she's been surrounded by loss in a galaxy that balances between light and dark. The night is darkest before the dawn but when was the dawn to be? How long was this to go on, families parted, worlds pitted against each other?

At her commander's call she places the helmet on her head. A new battle, new heroes – new losses, new memorials, and new families to be told…

_Tracer lighting up the sky,_

_It's another family's time to die._

_A child afraid to even cry out says,_

_He has been here._

The turbolaser fire flashes across the sky, red, green, blue. The heat of battle is felt all over the star destroyer.

Admiral Niathal watches the fighters streak across the sky, hearing the analysts at her side give tactical advice, observing more and more explosions block out the stars, seeing flotsam, jetsam and flash frozen bodies float through the peaceful space.

Peaceful? Niathal reprimanded herself. On the command deck of a star destroyer things were anything but peaceful.

A ship emerges on the starboard side, a Corellian freighter. Anonymous, probably carrying a family from hyperspace to their home planet. Corellia, the enemy. That ship, however innocent it appears, is the enemy.

One of the crew looks at Niathal and she gives the slightest of nods. A new bout of light flashes: the freighter is no more. As the fighters continued spiralling through the stars, she turns on her heels and walks out, satisfied that lessons had been taught. A family was worth the cost of Corellia backing down, allowing the Galactic Alliance to return peace.

Or at the very least, calm…

_And I see no bravery,_

_No bravery in your eyes anymore._

_Only sadness._

Tenel Ka watches, trying to conceal her emotion as her daughter clasps the stuffed tauntaun close to her chest. Her large eyes gaze at her mother before turning back to watch him, her father, walk away.

She is afraid. She feels affection for Jacen although she is unaware of who he truly is but she feels fear too, within herself and within Jacen. Fear, anger, darkness.

His eyes have changed. Tenel has watched him with caution. Despite Hapes not being a system that follows every slight change within the Alliance, within the Confederation, she has heard enough to be on her guard. Still, she watches Jacen on many levels.

And something is different, it shows on his face. His eyes, once deep, contemplating, have yellowed streaks throughout, the lines around them revealing his inner turmoil

As he becomes a smaller figure in the distance, Tenel lies a hand upon her daughter's shoulders. Both watch in silence as Jacen Solo walks out of their lives…

_There are children standing here,_

_Arms outstretched to the sky,_

_But no-one asks the question why,_

_He has been here._

Ben settles into a meditative trance, trying to clear his mind and work through the last few weeks. There have been shifts, changes. The Force is working, manipulated instead of free, moulded instead of flowing. There is darkness gathering like a storm about to break. Events are connecting, drawing ever closer to climax, to the moment when the Force will combine with Fate.

His parents are a part of this. His whole family is; Ben can feel it. He focuses, trying to see through the haze that clouds his vision of the future, trying to figure out what is gathering, what is about to occur, and change his life…

_Old men kneel and accept their fate._

_Wives and daughters cut and raped._

_A generation drenched in hate._

_Yes, he has been here._

A piece of flimsi catches his attention: the familiar scrawl of his wife. The message sends coldness through him. She has left to cut down a ruthless enemy, who threatens all she holds dear. He has faith but cannot help but wonder if she can succeed.

His son has disappeared. His nephew is slipping away. He must bring them together.

An invisible hand brushes his hair as sadness engulfs him. She is gone. The woman who brought him so much, asked so little. She is gone.

As a family falls from unity to despair, the galaxy continues as it has.

Another family receives news that a loved one is lost.

Another family sits down to a meal with an empty chair.

An innocent youth, dressed in the cloth of his homeworld is beaten as an outsider.

Wives go to sleep alone in the night.

Siblings feel a never-ending emptiness.

Governments argue as fleets strike.

Another ship of refugees is attacked.

Allegiances are no longer sound.

The balance point is reached. The galaxy falls…

_And I see no bravery,_

_No bravery in your eyes anymore._

_Only sadness._

Padme Amidala once cried as Anakin Skywalker completed his destiny and became Darth Vader. She used her dying breath to proclaim he still had some good within him.

Jacen Solo admires his grandfather and tries to mould himself in his image. While he immortalised his love, there was no-one.

No-one to cry out, no-one to turn him back, no-one to mourn him…

There is no light, only darkness, as Jacen Solo embraces power, embodies anger and becomes Darth Caedus, Dark Lord of the Sith.

**Fin.**


End file.
